


Improv Theater

by liketolaugh



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Human, Autistic Connor (Detroit: Become Human), Fake/Pretend Relationship, First Meetings, M/M, Meet-Cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-28
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-02-24 15:55:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22000543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liketolaugh/pseuds/liketolaugh
Summary: I'm egging your house for a dare but your parent is a cop and they’re yelling at me, so I told them that you were my ex and you wronged me. And now you’re coming outside and please go along with this, I don’t want to go to jail.Markus has many regrets.
Relationships: Connor/Markus (Detroit: Become Human)
Comments: 39
Kudos: 525





	1. Chapter 1

Here was the thing: Markus was mature for his age. It came with having an older brother like Leo, with taking over more and more of the household duties as his father’s health grew worse, with his own sharp attentiveness and growing awareness of the world.

Here was the other thing: Markus’ friends were absolute chaos fiends, and on good days, it was easy to get caught up in the flow of things, laughing until he was breathless, daring and running and arguing. It was easy to start it, even, when North was wild and defensive and desperate to stay away from home, and all he wanted was to wipe that scowl off his friend’s face.

If anyone asked, that was why he ignored Josh’s dismayed protests and went along with North’s desire to egg a random house about two blocks from hers. At two in the morning Halloween night.

Hopefully no one would ask.

Josh was covering his face and peeking through his fingers by the time they were halfway through the dozen; North was laughing, brazen and delighted, and Simon rolling an egg between his hands, giggling helplessly and probably working up the nerve to join in.

Markus was laughing, too, right up until he hit a window by accident, and someone appeared a few seconds later, examining first the splattered egg, and then looking over to meet Markus’ eyes, expression flat and unreadable.

Markus’ smile froze, and he stared back at the other – a boy maybe a year or two younger, distantly familiar the way most of the kids at school were, acne-speckled and face starting to scrunch in something like confusion. Or worse, _hurt._

As if to highlight how bad this idea suddenly seemed, the front door of the house slammed open. The door had an egg on it. Luckily, the man who’d emerged was unlikely to notice that.

Unluckily, the man was fuming.

“You damn kids think you can just come here and throw shit at _my house?”_ the man demanded, loud and with all the irritation of those woken in untimely manners. “I’m a goddamn police lieutenant! I can have you arrested for this!”

Josh’s elbow dug hard into Markus’ side, which was the moment at which he realized he was still staring at the boy in the window, whose head had tilted cutely, like a baby bird’s. Panic mixed with his lingering preoccupation, and Markus blurted out the first plausible excuse to come to mind.

“Your son and I were dating but he fucked up and I want revenge!”

That was an awful excuse. That was so easy to disprove. Why did he say that.

North started laughing again.

The policeman seemed to think so too, because he scowled at Markus, and then crossed his arms, leaned forward, and made intense eye contact with the boy in the window until the boy pushed it open and leaned out, quizzical.

“Do you know this kid?” the man demanded, sounding fed up with the entire situation already.

Markus’ heart pounded, paralyzed with fear, but, unexpectedly, the boy nodded. The police officer still looked unconvinced.

“Did you do something to him?” the man pushed, scowl unamused. “He says you were _dating.”_ His voice dripped with skepticism.

Markus gave the boy a pleading look. He really, really didn’t want to have to explain this to Carl; the man had enough on his mind with how much he had to bail _Leo_ out. Markus didn’t want Carl to worry about him too.

The boy blinked.

“I… forgot his birthday,” he said at last, slowly.

“You,” the man said slowly, in a voice indicative of great doubt, “forgot something.”

“Yes,” the boy agreed blandly.

Oh, hell. The lieutenant’s son was a _bad liar._

“You didn’t even take my calls all day!” he snapped, trying to sound indignant enough to make the lie more convincing. “I hate you-” He didn’t know the boy’s name.

“Connor,” Josh whispered in his ear.

“Connor!” Markus parroted automatically, and then thought, _oh hell, the policeman’s going to think I’m an idiot because I just shouted a random name._

“You and Connor,” the lieutenant said dubiously, “dated.”

What?

“And now I find out you didn’t even tell your dad about us!” Markus shouted at Connor, because he had no choice but to run with it now. “This is why I’m egging your house!”

He was still holding an egg, and he threw it at Connor for effect. Connor caught it.

“Sorry?” Connor offered, sounding unsure about it.

The police lieutenant still looked heavily unconvinced, but he was looking between Markus and Connor, brow furrowed and arms still crossed.

“And what’s your… ex… boyfriend’s name?” he asked, slow and suspicious.

“Markus,” Connor said.

“What,” Markus whispered.

“And when is Markus’ birthday?” the man asked, with increasing incredulity.

“March eighteenth,” Connor said, without even hesitating.

“What,” Markus repeated helplessly.

“He’s in our AP Government class,” Josh explained in an undertone, sounding tired and exasperated. “He had Calculus with us last year, too. I think he’s a sophomore.” Simon shot him an incredulous look, and Josh said, “I had a group project with him, okay?”

North was still laughing.

As if to increase the surreality of the occasion, someone appeared right by Connor, functionally identical to him save a much more irritated expression. Markus braced himself.

“Connor had a test the next day,” the other boy said, flat and disinterested. “You know he’s trying to graduate early. He couldn’t afford to fail.”

Connor turned his head to stare at his twin. So did just about everyone else.

The police lieutenant was rubbing his face now, as if to try and wake up. Markus felt kind of the same way.

“I had the same test!” Markus argued, feeling like he’d at some point fallen into an alternate universe without his awareness. “We could have studied together!”

Connor transferred his gaze back down, refocusing on Markus. His expression had barely changed the whole time, but he was smiling now, small and charmed. Like he was having fun, leaning against the windowsill from a floor up, arguing about a relationship that never happened.

“Your study music is loud,” Connor said mildly. “I can’t focus.”

“You could have said something!” Markus said petulantly, hamming it up a little to cross his arms and frown disapprovingly up at Connor.

“I didn’t want to bother you,” Connor said.

“It was my _birthday,”_ Markus argued with undue passion. “I wanted to see you!”

“Connor, you bastard!” North offered unhelpfully, through half-restrained cackles.

“Connor’s is August fifteenth,” the brother said in return, his focus as unwavering as Connor’s and much more disconcerting. “Where were you?”

“They’d broken up by then,” Simon jumped in, clearly invested now and a note of earnest protest in his voice. “You can’t hold him accountable for that.”

“Watch me,” the brother said.

Markus chanced a look at the lieutenant, but he couldn’t tell whether the man was buying it. He didn’t look angry anymore, at least – just exasperated and more tired by the second, hand over his eyes and shaking his head.

“He’s been sulking for months!” Simon said passionately. Too passionately. What the hell, Simon? “Have a heart!”

“He dumped my brother,” the brother said firmly. “If he wants mercy, he’ll have to beg for it.”

“That’s a little harsh, Nines,” Connor chided, glancing at his brother. “It was mutual.”

“It really wasn’t,” Josh said unexpectedly, and Markus shot him a betrayed look. Josh had the good grace to look apologetic.

“Please make up with him so we can go home,” Simon said to Markus.

“Not until Connor apologizes for ghosting Markus for a week and a half!” North jumped in, eyes bright with mischief.

“Sorry,” Connor said, sounding tired.

“Don’t apologize,” Nines objected, frowning at Connor. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I don’t know what’s happening,” the police lieutenant said at last, unexpected enough to make Markus jump. “I’m going to bed. Stop egging my damn house.”

That said, he turned around and went back inside, the door slamming behind him. For a few moments, all of them stared at it, thrown off their rhythm by the sudden concession.

“…Did he believe us?” Markus ventured at last.

“No,” Connor said plainly. “He just decided it wasn’t worth the trouble.”

Oh. Well, that worked well enough.

“Okay,” Markus said at last, decisively. He stared up at Connor, suddenly awkward again, the other boy staring back down placidly. After the conversation they’d just had, he felt like he had to check. “You, uh. Know none of that was real, right?”

Nines snorted.

“While I definitely am bad enough with social cues to misunderstand my own relationship status, you and I have only spoken a few times,” Connor replied, sounding unoffended. “All of them were during class discussions. I’m aware we’re not dating.”

“Oh, thank God,” Markus said with feeling. He’d been starting to wonder. “Thanks for playing along.” Then, on impulse, “Want to make it real?”

Nines scoffed and ducked back inside. Beside Markus, North guffawed. Connor blinked at him.

“Okay,” Connor said at last.

Markus grinned back, relief setting in and making him feel light and pleased again. “Meet you at the front door after school tomorrow?”

“I’ll remember,” Connor said, and he was smiling again.

Apparently satisfied, he ducked back inside and shut the window. Markus turned back to his friends, grinning.

“How do you turn almost getting arrested into a date?” Josh demanded of him, sounding almost indignant. “I want to do that.”

“I never want to do that again,” Markus disagreed fervently. “…But at least I have a date.” Pause. “You can stop laughing any day now, North.”

“Not on your _life!”_ she managed, cheeks flushed with delight. “Happy fucking Halloween.”

“Happy Halloween,” Simon agreed ruefully.


	2. Chapter 2

Markus waited until a few months after they started dating to introduce Connor to Carl.

If he was honest, he hadn’t been expecting it to get this serious. Sure, their first meeting had been silly and fun, and Connor was cute, starting to mature into handsome. But Markus had, overall, expected him to be more… boring. The argument between floors had seemed like a one-off sort of thing.

Connor was not boring. Uptight, sometimes, and focused on his studies – but he went along with the antics of Markus’ friends more than just that once, listened when Markus talked, and he had a sly humor that came out at the most unexpected times. And Markus _liked_ him.

So Markus decided to bring Connor home, and hope this introduction went better than his encounter with Hank had.

Carl’s smile was starting to strain, which Markus knew was because Connor had been unwaveringly polite and respectful… and nothing else. His hopes were starting to go down the drain; he knew that it was mostly because Connor was anxious and uncomfortable, his boyfriend fidgeting as subtly as he could with a pen between his fingers, but Carl was probably starting to wonder what Markus saw in Connor at all.

“Markus tells me you’re planning to graduate early?” Carl asked patiently, because he could be a saint when it came to things Markus asked for, and Markus had very specifically asked him to be nice to Connor.

Connor nodded. “I don’t _need_ to,” he clarified, measured and even, “but I’d like to. And Markus and I wouldn’t share any classes if I weren’t trying.” Connor and Markus were two years apart, and had very different tastes in electives, so that was probably true.

“He’s looking forward to being able to choose his own classes,” Markus put forward, trying to come to Connor’s rescue. He reached under the table to squeeze Connor’s hand, and felt him settle a little. “High school is a little restrictive.”

“I assume you met through class,” Carl prompted, gaze wandering back to Markus with faint question.

Markus didn’t see, focused on Connor, who had squeezed his hand to catch his attention and then cocked his head, looking for permission. Markus made a face, because Carl was never going to let him hear the end of this, but he nodded, resigned to his fate.

The bright, sly grin that appeared on Connor’s face was almost worth it. Almost.

“No, sir,” Connor said lightly, and Carl didn’t have time to make a face before he continued, “He egged my house and then told Hank it was because I was his ex and he wanted revenge.”

Despite the fact that it was at his expense, Markus couldn’t help but laugh at the about-face that played across Carl’s expression, confusion and incredulity and delight.

Carl tried to settle into disapproval, but didn’t quite make it that far as he turned his attention on Markus. “Is that true, young man?” he asked, and if Markus were actually in any trouble he wouldn’t have said it _like that,_ so Markus just covered his face and nodded.

Within seconds, Carl broke and started cackling.

“Did it work?” Carl asked when his laughter died down, and Connor was still holding Markus’ hand under the table so he supposed it was okay.

Connor shrugged.

“I backed him up,” he said blandly, “but Hank is a police lieutenant, I’m not a very good liar, and Markus didn’t know my name. He did get frustrated and go to bed, though.”

Carl started laughing again. Markus shot Connor a long-suffering look, and Connor gave him a small, sly smile in return, brown eyes gleaming brightly, which drew a reluctant grin out of Markus.

“Your brother was way too into it,” Markus claimed, trying to salvage some dignity out of this. _“If he wants mercy, he’ll have to beg for it._ I’m going to be hearing that one in my dreams.”

“Oh, Nines knew I had a crush on you,” Connor said nonchalantly.

 _“What,”_ Markus said, before he could stop himself.

Markus was very articulate. He was in debate and in theater. He thrived on the speeches and presentations everyone else hated. How did Connor keep reducing him to this?

Connor laughed, quiet and breathy, and Markus immediately forgot what he’d been complaining about, because in three months of dating he’d never heard Connor laugh and the sound had him smiling in moments, small and helpless.

“I don’t believe you’ve been showing this boy your best side, Markus,” Carl teased gently. Markus noted that the strain in his posture was gone, which, he supposed, was a positive.

“I haven’t done anything to deserve this,” Markus claimed, put-upon and huffy.

“You’re not the only one,” Connor pointed out, head tilting slightly. His expression was flat save the lingering trace of a smile, directed at Markus. “I brought an angry ex to my foster father’s home before I started dating. That’s a new low for me, I think.”

“You should remember people’s birthdays, then,” Markus tossed back wryly.

“I remember your birthday!” Connor objected instantly, straightening up and looking distressed enough that Markus squeezed his hand again.

“I know,” he assured him, laughing a little. “I guess if you had a crush on me already, that explains why you knew it before we’d even really spoken.”

“Foster father, you said?” Carl inserted, drawing their attention back to him. He was smiling now, the more sincere sort of fond one that meant he’d decided he liked Connor after all. Thank God. “That certainly explains why you address him by first name. May I ask how long you’ve been staying with him?”

“Nines and I have been with Hank for around a year and a half,” Connor provided instantly, and then grew visibly uncomfortable and hesitated for a few long moments, eyes on Carl, before continuing, “He took us in after we were removed from our previous home, which was…” His expression pinched slightly, and he shrugged. “Hank is better. The adoption should go through sometime this year.”

“Then congratulations to you and your brother,” Carl said kindly, and Connor smiled at him, bright and pleased and the most relaxed he’d been all day.

It hadn’t taken Markus long to fall into Carl’s custody after his parents, Carl’s niece and her husband, had died; he’d wondered more than once how he would’ve done in the system, if he’d been left to it.

He was glad he had Carl.

“Now why didn’t I know you had a crush on me?” he teased, steering the subject to back lighter topics while the going was still good.

“Because I’m not very good at showing it?” Connor suggested, smile falling back into a neutral, thoughtful look. “I’ve had one since the first time I saw you. You’re very pretty, and you’re not afraid to argue with teachers when they’re rude or wrong.”

Markus flushed, taken aback by Connor’s candid honesty.

“I told Lieutenant Anderson you were my ex because I was thinking about how cute you were,” he confessed on impulse, smiling at the other. “I’m usually focused when I’m in class, so I’d seen you around but I hadn’t _looked.”_

Connor’s eyes went wide, and to Markus’ pleasure, he spluttered a little and then protested, “I-I’m not-!”

“I have to agree with Markus,” Carl said cheerfully, and Connor covered his face.

This time, it was Markus’ turn to laugh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't mean this to have a second part, but my datefriend asked and I am weak.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in about three hours on impulse. It's a little silly. I have no regrets.


End file.
